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Showing posts from August, 2016

Review: "The Secret Language of the Stones" by M.J. Rose

  Synopsis:  Nestled within Paris’s historic Palais Royal is a jewelry store unlike any other. La Fantasie Russie is owned by Pavel Orloff, protégé to the famous Faberge, and is known by the city’s fashion elite as the place to find the rarest of gemstones and the most unique designs. But war has transformed Paris from a city of style and romance to a place of fear and mourning. In the summer of 1918, places where lovers used to walk, widows now wander alone. So it is from La Fantasie Russie’s workshop that young, ambitious Opaline Duplessi now spends her time making trench watches for soldiers at the front, as well as mourning jewelry for the mothers, wives, and lovers of those who have fallen. People say that Opaline’s creations are magical. But magic is a word Opaline would rather not use. The concept is too closely associated with her mother Sandrine, who practices the dark arts passed down from their ancestor La Lune, one of sixteenth century Paris’s most famou

Mailbox Monday (65)

Time for another Mailbox Monday post! I am so excited about all of the books that came in this week.  Because it's August and classes start in a few weeks, I probably won't get a ton of reading done this month but I know that what I do read will be awesome! From the Library:   The House Between Tides by Sarah Maine Higher Education in the Digital Age by William G. Bowen For Review (from HFVBT): Days of Sun and Glory by Anna Belfrage I have read all of Ms. Belfrage's books and I LOVE them so much.  I can't wait to read this one. For Kindle: I took advantage of the Kindle First book for August and got $3 from Amazon for being a loyal customer so I picked up two free ebooks this week.  Yippee! The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen   Into the Nothing by BT Urruela What books did you pick up this week?  

July 2016 Wrap Up

  We had fun visiting the Natural History museum last week. Summer is more than half over! I can't believe it!  July was an exhausting month.  We had family visiting on two different weekends and just a lot of stuff going on. Despite all the goings on, I had the best reading month I've had all year.  I read 11 books!  I am now at 45 books for the year and my original goal was 52.  I know I will raise that goal at some point but I'm not sure how I'm going to raise it.  I also hit my monthly reading goals.  This month I wanted to read 2 books I own and 2 non-fiction books; I read 2 non-fiction books and 5 books I own so I'm really happy about that.  I had planned to post twice per week on the blog but this past week I didn't manage to get two posts up.  Oh well.  I managed to post 13 times on the blog this month so I think that's decent. For August, I plan to read 5 books I own and 3 non-fiction books.  It's not always easy for me to consistentl